Based on my study of the book, in 1920, amidst a money supply that was doubling every 1-2 years, gold and agricultural commodities both dropped by 60%.

This corresponded with a 60% increase in the mark against the dollar.

The move generally occured due to foreigners believing for a time that the German economy would rebound after the war, and their investment into marks would become more valuable.

By the end of the year, the trend was reversing as the money printing continued relentlessly and it became clear this was the path Germany was going to take to repay its obligations. Into early 1921, gold and commodities had regained their highs, never to look back.

The book has some amazing graphs. The most important aspect of the graphs is that they are divided by years and standardized based on the beginning of that time period, so in the 1920-1921 graph, you see what looks like a HUGE 60% drop in the price of gold. Then, they back out those invididual graphs for the entire 1914 - 1924 time period and what you see is basically a parabolic rise with very little variation (on a logarithmic scale):

If you look at the graphs in a linear scale, not a log scale, the price of gold in marks looks something like this (the prices of commodities roughly followed):

In other words, what at the time must have been a gut-wrenching 60% decline in gold for gold holders, turned out to not even register on the graph when all is said and done.

How many people who did not understand the fundamentals back in 1920 do you think sold their gold as it dropped 60%, only to be wiped out completely in the next five years?

How many people here today who DO understand the fundamentals are acting as though they are going to sell anyway?

Hysteria